Graphics Card Question (3g vs 1.5)

I've been doing some reading around the forum the last few days but decided to join since I just finished putting my order in for an m14x.

I purchased one with a 3g 555m with the 2.2ghz i7. I thought that there shouldn't be any bottle necking (only got the 6g of ram, I'll replace that manually but I didn't want the 4g) but now I'm not so sure. It seems like there are some performance issues at the native resolution on the HD+ screen with the 3g?

I'm so confused >_< I don't know a whole lot about computers but I ran my build by a friend of mine who does. Now I'm slightly worried I got jipped by getting the "better" video card! I don't run stuff like battle field or call of duty-- I run things like Tera Online. If that helps?

 

Get the 1.5GB, 3GB is useless, and will not give you any performance boost beside the large memory for nothing (unless you use dual/tri monitor), plus some of the 3GB (GF116 only, me I got GF106 not a single problem) folks here are having trouble such as unable to install NVIDIA driver properly, only way is to install with a .inf file and some oher problem.

Get the 1.5GB and save some money for the extended warranty or something like that is very worth the money you spend. For games you state above, you wont get any lag if you properly whitelist (instruction in my sig) game's .exe. Btw Welcome to NBR

 

I was in a similar boat as you. I did some research for a week before configuring my system last Friday. Basically what I discovered is that the 3gb card is a waste of money. On a 14in screen, the 1.5gb is plenty. I know youve already ordered it so dont sweat it, it wont hurt you having the 3gb it just isnt really necessary

 

Thank you for the reassurance King. It was extra money but oh well. Dell's customerservice is subpar so I don't plan to deal with them antmore than I have to. It is in production already so I can not make any changes. Its a huge leap over my toshiba satellite . i am pretty sure I will love the laptop.

Granted I do plan in hooking it up to my plasma and using a gamepad to play- so maybe it will come in handy there!

 

me personally really think the 3g is better then the 1,5, i already run some tests and i have 2-3 fps more then the 1,5 users

 

2-3 fps is not even noticeable. If you can't play a game maxed with 1.5g then neither with 3g. and at $100+ more it's not just worth it. you're better of using it for warranty.

 

2 - 3 fps is not worth the $100 charge for 1.5GB extra, if it is something like 10 - 15 fps, then that's the deal. Beside the 3GB GF116 (newer card) most of which now having problem such as what I list in my first post, so that's not even worth the troubling.

 

I got the 3GB option and am actually enjoying it.

Some games actually require all that graphics memory - GTA IV for example, with all settings maxed out - doesn't even fit in 2GB graphics memory.

Granted, its the only game I've come across so far with such an aggressive GPU RAM requirement - but the extra RAM certainly doesn't hurt, and helps make the system more future-proof.

 

I even tried contacting Dell's support about a few things (and was going to ask about maybe changing the card on my order since I had ordered it in the middle of the night) but they still haven't returned my inquery. = =; Ah well, there's a return policy if it doesn't run well for me.

 

I still have some screenshots like this..

http://oi43.tinypic.com/qybaxd.jpg

Most of the time in Crysis I use 1400mb-2200mb of vram. I think its because it has so many high res textures at once (like in outdoor island levels)

 

I actually have a customer service rep looking into applying discounts on my order since I ran into some trouble in ordering. They're being quite helpful (which surprised me after some of the things I've read about Dell Support). I doubt they will be able to do much, but it was nice.

 

That's might even be the virtual ram, because as far as I know, most virtual ram are usually twice or thrice the amount of the actual RAM size.

 

Yeah I know, its everything but VRam When I first posted these the first 5 replies were all the other types of ram they could be besides vram. Why would an in game system info display show anything else though?